Canada

Canadian convicted of abusing underage boy released from Nepal prison

Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh is escorted in custody by RCMP officers at Robert L. Stanfield International Airport in Halifax on Thursday, June 7, 2007. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan)

A Nova Scotia man convicted of sexually abusing an underage boy by a Nepalese court has been released from prison and ordered out of the country after serving about half of his seven-year sentence.

Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh, 75, was convicted in March 2015 following his Dec. 2014 arrest in the South Asian country.

Speaking to CTV Atlantic, prison authorities in Nepal cited MacIntosh’s age as being among the factors behind his early release. MacIntosh served three years and six months in the city of Lalitpur, near the capital of Kathmandu.

Global Affairs Canada did not confirm MacIntosh’s release. However, the agency said it is aware of a Canadian citizen being released from prison in Nepal.

It is unclear if MacIntosh will serve out the remainder of his sentence in Canada or walk free. According to Public Safety Canada, any Canadian convicted of sex crimes in a foreign country must register with police within seven days of their return to Canada.

A source told CTV Atlantic that MacIntosh will likely travel to Ontario, if he is not there already. The source also said that, due to health concerns, MacIntosh will be heading to hospital upon his return.

MacIntosh faced similar charges in Canada for the alleged abuse of young males dating back to the 1970s. Charges were laid regarding those allegations in 1995, when MacIntosh lived in India.

In 2007, he was finally extradited to Canada where he faced trial in 2010 and was eventually convicted of 17 child sex offences.

Those convictions were quashed in 2013 by the Supreme Court of Canada, which said that MacIntosh’s case took too long to go to trial.

Not long after, MacIntosh travelled to Nepal.

With a report from CTV Atlantic’s Bill Dicks and files from The Canadian Press